Kuku - The Dancer

Kuku loves to dance. My cousin got married in December and Kuku decided to dance at their wedding reception as well. He can stay without food and water but cannot stay long without dancing - as I found out at my cousin's reception. We went to another cousin's daughter's birthday party and the moment they put on the music, he was all set to dance and move and groove. We were surprised at his new-found confidence for dancing in public. Also, he did not mind that both of us were not anywhere around him while he danced. When he saw us, he smiled, waved, and continued dancing. This is a new Kuku - I am glad and worried at the same time. I love dancing as well. Everyone has asked me to enroll him in dance classes but something tells me this is jes a fad - I am not sure (maybe I am hoping this is only a fad!) so, I want to let him enjoy this phase while it lasts before making it a chore (Classes, rehearsals, etc. etc.). I want to avoid bollywood numbers, dapanguthu, etc. so I am not really sure about the options. Do you have any ideas? Please write to me and I'll check on that. Thank you!   

Wordless Wednesday -- at my cousin's wedding

Kuku at my cousin's wedding - he had fun!

Lunch at the Bombay Brasserie

After a long time, our team went on a lunch only outing. The place chosen was Bombay Brasserie in Indira nagar. Not many of us had heard of the place but we were all game. Two members from the team, one who was recovering from surgery and the other whose parents were on a sudden visit, could not make it to the lunch. As a result, I was the only vegetarian of the group.

Cocoa Rush

We started with drinks. I did not want to try any of the mocktails and opted to have a lime juice instead. Others tried various mocktails. A number of interesting concoctions were tasted and the one I can remember was Cocoa Rush. Some liked it but some didn't think it was great at all. No consensus at all. There was a discussion on liquid nitrogen and its after effects after cocoa Rush was served at the table which was quite enlightening for me as I was not aware of its use in recent times at all.  

Dessert

I ordered Aam Papad Paneer, as a starter which was sweet. Mostly paneer dishes are spicy but this one was a variation that was not bad. I polished it off anyway. The non-vegetarians (everyone else) ordered various starters and seconds and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I think I should come here with the Arien. 

I was not really noticing what the others ordered for the main course. My main course had a noodles, coconut rice and a veg gravy that was not at all spicy. A good combination though I would have preferred a bit spice in the veg gravy. I enjoyed it though and polished it off before taking a snap :(

Dessert

I did not have the dessert. I was avoiding all desserts as part of my new diet and I was also stuffed. I did not even taste it.  That was a big step for me. It looked quite tasty though. The two desserts we ordered. 

Balcony Seating at BB

The place has a lovely ambience and a nice cozy feel to it. The walls are a beautiful white and blue which is very pleasing to the eye - reminds you of the beach. The AC inside was a bit high for us and we stared at the balcony throughout. We were not seated at the balcony but it sure does look inviting, right?

Image Courstesy: http://www.bombaybrasserie.in/ 

Nice place to visit when you have the desire to treat your family to a nice and expensive lunch. Lunch for two comes to 1500. There is no booking and so you may have to wait a bit. I liked it. Have you been there? Let me know what you think of the food.

Despicable M3 -- Movie Review

After a long long time, we saw a movie with Kuku. My Arien cousin picked the movie because he knew that Kuku loves minions. We wanted to see how Kuku would react to the whole movie experience. His first movie experience did not really work out for us (you can read about that here) and we were hoping the second one would be better. It was but only slightly so.

The movie was just ok. The story seemed a bit too familiar - the separated at birth story of Gru and Dru had me wondering if Hollywood was now borrowing from Bollywood. I think the producers are in love with sequels because the earlier film worked. However, unlike Toy Story sequels, I felt more than a bit let down by this movie. Some of the Bratt scenes were genuinely funny - especially with music from the 90s which probably no one else except the Generation X (ones after the baby boomers) would recall.

Image Courtesy: http://www.hindustantimes.com/movie-reviews/despicable-me-3-movie-review-hoped-for-a-unicorn-got-a-one-horned-goat/story-u2fJxfQ5zVjx7krndBOPoI.html

Kuku refused to stay put in his seat or wear his 3D glasses. He walked all around, sat on the steps, tried some pop corn, and some nachos. He kept putting his hand between seats and scaring the couple in front of us. Whenever I pulled him away, he would go for a walk in the darkened theatre looking for a kindred someone who would be good company as they both run up and down the steps. Luckily for me, he did not find anyone.

The Arien commented "I think we should not try this for another 3 more years". I groaned :(

Kuku, the wedding dancer

We had a wedding in the family. The Arien's niece got married amidst a lot of love, tears, and the general stress and loud words that one associates with a wedding. The surprise package was Kuku, who broke into a jig at the reception and was the cynosure of all eyes. One part of me was cringing that he was dancing for a typical dappankutthu song and the other part of me was surprised he was ready to dance in front of an audience.

Brown is the new White

I started baby steps towards eating healthy last month. I was unsure if I could do it because it involved a lot of change. I wish I could say it is easy. I struggle with my new choices and try to stay the course as far as I can. I have good days and a few off days that are slowly not too many in number.

One of the first changes was to move from white rice to brown rice. I balked at it but slowly made it work.

I love sugar in my tea. Whenever anyone commented on my sugar intake (I like 2 spoons of sugar in my tea), I would always respond "If I cannot have sugar in my tea, I would rather go without tea." I have not had sugar or milk in my tea for almost a month now. I thought that would be the toughest life style change but within a week, I was totally comfortable with it.

I try to include 1 fruit everyday and sprouts at least thrice a week. My food portions used to be quite erratic. I now stick to a fixed pattern and quantity everyday. If I am still hungry, I have a fruit instead of eating anything else.

I also have two cheat meals in a week when I can have whatever I like. I try to choose something healthy most of the time.

Sometimes, I go back to my old pattern for one meal or one snack. Then, I consciously reduce my intake for the next day. This is actually the toughest part for me.

I also thought that with these drastic changes, I would lose a lot of weight. But, its a slow and steady progress. However, I am happy that I am making some changes and am eating healthy. I do not feel stuffed or bloated. I actually feel light and that is something I am enjoying. Well, wish me luck :)

Declutter! Declutter! Declutter!

I love to hoard stuff - old gift wrapping sheets, old letters, old cards, old photographs, old comic books, old books.. you get the drift. Sometimes, handling the resultant mess becomes unbearable. Identifying what to throw and what to keep is very difficult for me as each item has an associated memory that is dear or special to me. I usually end up keeping most of them and throwing a handful out. I hope my yelling this mantra a couple of times, will get me to actually declutter my space. Well, I'll save that for another day. 

Today when I was wondering what to post, I realized that even my blog needs a bit of clean-up. Went back to my old blog look.. the one I always get back to after a spate of changes. Realized my blog list was outdated and while I visit so many other blogs, I have not updated my list. I removed some of them which have not been updated in a while. I will get around to adding more sometime this year. 

I feel better already!

Happy new Year 2017

Its 6 months into the new year... and here I am posting Happy New Year 2017!
Well, better late than never.
Hopefully, I will be more regular now.
Fingers crossed.